IAF Guidance Documents (GD Series)

IAF also publishes Guidance for the use of accreditation bodies when accrediting certification/registration bodies to assure that they also operate their programs in a consistent and equivalent manner. IAF Guidance documents are not intended to establish, interpret, subtract from or add to the requirements of any ISO/IEC Guide but simply to assure consistent application of those Guides.

Copies of all published IAF Guidance to the application of ISO/IEC Guides are available below.

The following documents are available in Adobe Acrobat PDF. If you do not have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer it is available here free from Adobe.

IAF GD 5:2006 Guidance on ISO/IEC Guide 65:1996(Issue 3, issued on 8 December 2006; application from 8 December 2007)All IAF Members are required to comply with the IAF guidance on the application of ISO/IEC Guide 65:1996 (General Requirements for Assessment and Accreditation of Bodies Operating Product Certification Systems), Issue 2. IAF Accreditation Body Members are required to evaluate the operations and planning of accredited bodies to ensure that full implementation is in place. The guidance is intended to ensure that all certification/registration bodies accredited by IAF members are demonstrably competent to operate the accredited Product Certification programs. Accreditation bodies that are members of the IAF MLA ensure that the certificates issued by certification / registration bodies accredited by them are equivalent to certificates issued by bodies accredited by other members of the MLA.

(Note - At the IAF General Assembly held in Rio de Janeiro in October 2012, the members agreed to a three year transition (IAF Resolution 2012-09) from ISO/IEC Guide 65 to ISO/IEC 17065:2012. As a consequence, the list of MLA signatories and IAF PR4 will not be updated to reflect ISO/IEC 17065:2012 until the transition period is completed on 15 September 2015.)

IAF GD 24:2009 Guidance on the Application of ISO/IEC 17024:2003(Issue 2, Version 2, issued on 1 February 2009: Application from 1 February 2010)All IAF Members are required to comply with the IAF guidance on the application of ISO/IEC 17024:2003 (Conformity assessment - General Requirements for Bodies operating Certification of Persons ), Issue 2 . IAF The guidance is intended to ensure that all certification/registration bodies accredited by IAF members are demonstrably competent to operate the accredited Certification of Persons programs. Accreditation bodies that are members of the IAF MLA ensure that the certificates issued by certification/registration bodies accredited by them are equivalent to certificates issued by bodies accredited by other members of the MLA.